Just a few short months ago SWTOR was my go-to game. I don’t really know when it happened — everything was promising (because I’m no longer an end-game player), I was enjoying my characters’ stories, and in my head I was playing KOTOR3 with a chat client bolted on. And then, seemingly overnight, it all went away. I don’t even really understand how it all went down, for that matter; one day there were eleventy hojillion people on the fleet and I had fun chatting with people while I finished up my Sith Marauder’s story, and then all of a sudden I was struggling with a Class boss, frustrated at being underleveled, and no one was around for a cathartic bitch session.

What the hell?
I think some folks would like to lay blame at the feet of Guild Wars 2, because by definition any time a big new title launches people are going to check it out, even for a little while. There are also the recent WoW expansion and the upcoming RIFT expansion, but I think it’s both more complicated and more simple than just too many games and not enough players.

What I think happened is this:

Relaunching a AAA-title subscription MMO as F2P less than a year after launch is a laughably poor business decision.

When your developer and your publisher obviously have no fucking faith in their game and consider 500k active subs a failure, what the fuck is the point? Why bother giving them your money when they’re not willing to stand behind their product? That’s a terrible statement to present to your customers, and that combined with the constant news of resignations and layoffs meant it’s not really a surprise that after the announcement this summer subscribers started dropping like flies.

For the most part, after I did some raging about how sad it was that EA thought SWTOR was a failure and weren’t intending to support what they’d already built, I was mostly hopeful. People who’d left because they weren’t interested in maintaining subscriptions might come back; I could keep playing without worrying about throwing my money away on an unsupported game. I have defended SWTOR’s gameplay decisions over and over because I believe in the story, I believe in the property, and I really, really want it to succeed.

When the first passel of restrictions were posted, I was unconcerned. Cosmetic things like specific chargen options, cosmetic gear, that kind of thing — totally feasible for-pay options. Removing the fleet pass for f2p players is kind of a dick move, but it doesn’t make the game unplayable. Equally limiting access to operations and warzones: fine, as the real gem in SWTOR is the character class story, and all characters, whether sub or not, have, the FAQ says, unrestricted access to the 1-50 “journey.”

Except it’s not really unrestricted.

This week the Cartel Shop and the F2P version of SWTOR became available for public test, and the results have been less than stellar.

When I say less than stellar, what I mean is that EA is actively punishing f2p users. They assume that being unable to accept mission rewards, being stuck to a limited UI (single hotbar, IE eight slots), and gaining xp at a reduced rate is going to make people pay for game time. I mean why would you even want to play a game where you have to pay actual money to finish a mission? So obvs EA thinks this is the best way to convert free players to subs.

Except … no.

I mean, seriously, in what world would someone who was already uninterested in paying for this game be willing to subject themselves to a punitively limited gameplay experiece? I am not interested in that, and I’m already a paying sub! It’s like they thought about the most horribly annoying, terrible things they could do to make the game suck for free players and then did that. What the fuck? Compare that with GW2 (my only other f2p mmo experience), where the only things available in the cash shop that you can’t get through in-game means are convenience boosters and cosmetic-only armor (and since you can convert game gold to shop gems, even that isn’t really limited). And I know I don’t really have that much experience to compare it to, but that really feels like the way to get it done. I certainly don’t feel punished for not spending any real actual money from my real actual bank account.

Not only do the limitations for f2p players seem oddly punitive, they’re also remarkably petty. You have to pay to unlock the option to hide your helm; you have to pay to reorganize your ui; you have to pay to be able to speak in chat more than once every two minutes; you have to pay to have full and complete use of quick travel, shuttles, or the fleet pass. What the fuck?

This isn’t going to encourage people to spend money, like rare dyes or town clothes might in GW2. What it’s going to do is make players throw up their hands and say “fuck this” the first time they get the alert in Black Talon that they’ve seen their maximum boss drops for the week and uninstall the fucking game.

It sucks so bad because the part of SWTOR that is unquestionably Bioware — the class story — is so, so great and more people should play it. The current f2p model EA is employing isn’t going to do that, and it breaks my heart. I loved this game and the potential it represented; I do still love parts of it. I wish I could keep loving it still.

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12 Responses

Pai / 10-29-2012 / ·

This is an inherent problem with bolting on 'F2P' onto an originally sub-based game — they have to restrict and nerf in order to come up with things for people to pay for. Folks resent having stuff taken away or charged for when they are used to getting it for free. Plus, stuff like charging money for more UI bars is just plain idiotic, and I don't know what idiots were put in charge of coming up with stuff to put behind the paywall for SWTOR but they're obviously amateurs to the concept of F2P monetization.

GW2 was designed from the start around it's cash shop and B2P model. That actually makes a huge difference.

Aro / 10-29-2012 / ·

It really, really does make a huge difference! My challenge right now is that I wasn't expecting it to make SUCH a huge difference, you know? I guess in my dreamy happy naive utopia I was expecting the F2P version of the game to be pretty much what it is now, and subscribers would get some quality-of-life or booster bonuses, like maybe free extra bank or inventory tabs — NOT for subscribers to have the game as it is now and free players to suffer through a uselessly, needlessly petty version of half-a-game.

@undefined / 10-29-2012 / ·

This is @aerix88 (not sure if it will show correctly when posted!)…. that really sucks, about the actively punishing F2P players… I was really thinking about trying it out with that model, but doing more than limiting to end game items and warzones, etc… that's a shit move. :(

Aro / 10-29-2012 / ·

It is totally full of dick moves, and it feels like a bunch of kids sitting around playing the "I'm not touching you" game. "You can totally play the class story for free! Except you can never get any gear or cash from missions and can't do anything BUT missions and also you get way less XP from missions so you'll end up being 15 levels short for the tail end of your class story so you'll never get it done but hey! It's free!"

nerisanda / 10-30-2012 / ·

This makes me incredibly sad. I was so excited when they announced it was going F2P because I couldn't justify paying a sub when I only wanted to complete the story line. From what I have just read though, it sounds like I will have an absolutely miserable time trying to achieve just that if I'm not prepared to cough up the cash. Pay for action bars? Really? I'll pass, thanks.

I know, and it makes me SO SAD. I was so looking forward to the influx of population that F2P brings, because I really really love the SWTOR story and I WANT it to be successful but it's like EA doesn't. They'd rather punish people for not subbing in the first place than get new players interested. Why even bother with F2P when your model is basically a function-limited demo? Ugh.

ThatAngryDwarf / 10-30-2012 / ·

This isn't really anything new, and I think "kids sitting around playing the 'I'm not touching you' game" really does describe my feelings on this situation. I feel like a lot of the first-cut decisions were made by folks in that haze of anger that makes you say, "You know what, F2P players? It's YOUR fault we have to do this stupid shit. Take some of THIS!" And, while they have since started to at least respond to the outcry (F2P now gives you TWO hotbars, and there's reduced penalties for people who have ever given them money via store or sub), it remains pretty terrible.
My recent post Extra-Life Post-Mortem

Aro / 10-30-2012 / ·

INORITE it just all feels so childish and petty and I'm frustrated because I DEFENDED THEM. :(

If they're going to advertise an F2P or freemium game, then when someone buys the retail box they should be able to play the frigging game without spending further real money on it. I genuinely do not see how it's possible or even remotely feasible to get to 50 and finish a class story ('beat the game', or whatever) with the F2P model they've posted.

Paneridas / 11-1-2012 / ·

completely agree,i had played the first month and then quit since i didn't find it good enough for subscription.A friend told me it becomes f2p so i checked it out but it is really unplayable.no raids?no battlegrounds?i think i will pass…prefer to play for 10th time Dragon age or Mass effect
there are games like LOL or gw2 that use a diferrent f2p style and are more than succesful ,myself i wouldnt mind paying some money every now and then to support the game buying a pet or something of esthetic value .This blackmailing f2p that they are trying to do will be a failure for sure…

Aro / 11-2-2012 / ·

I think "blackmailing" is a fun word for it, because it feels pretty true; 'I see you want to treat this like a single player RPG. Well, if you want to do that, YOU BETTER COUGH UP THE CASH.'

nobody / 11-10-2012 / ·

what's wrong with you? as a current (or past) subscriber shouldn't you be MAD that they're GIVING stuff away?
/sarcasm off
is there anything that EA can't screw up? let's just hope they don't figure out how to monopolize the mmo market like they have the sports market.

Aro / 11-10-2012 / ·

I don't really get the attitude behind being mad that now some things are free; I am a current subscriber, and I do think its currently worth my money — but there are a lot of people for whom it's not, and that's totally valid too. I WANT more people around to enjoy the awesome stories, and it just feels so ridiculously petty that EA is punishing people for not subscribing.